Fashion Footprint: How Clothes Are Destroying our Planet and the Growing Impacts of Fast Fashion

Abstract

From agriculture and petrochemical production to manufacturing, logistics, and retail, the textile and fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world, responsible for between 8 to 10% of total carbon emissions and 20% of global wastewater, with a predicted increase of 50% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To gain a better understanding of the state of the academic literature on the environmental impact of fast fashion, we systematically identified and analysed 30 publications published between January 2000 and December 2022. In the end, we discovered that there is a growing research interest in fast fashion, especially in relation to its devastating environmental impacts, which range from the cultivation of raw fibres to the recycling of fashion waste. Subsequently, we provide a summary of the key findings, including the carbon and water footprints, as well as some sustainable practices believed to reduce the industry’s negative environmental impacts.